Manor welcomed Amersham & Chiltern to the New Wilderness for their first match of 2020 and were expecting a tight contest after the two sides fought out a draw earlier in the season. With on field injuries disrupting both sides, the contest was a close affair at half time but Manor took control of things in the second half and eventually ran out deserved winners.

Amersham kicked off the game and had the better of the opening exchanges keeping Manor pinned in their half. The flow of the game was soon interrupted when an Amersham player received lengthy treatment before being led from the field. The visitors continued to have the upper hand and were building pressure inside Manors 22 when play was again stopped for injury, this time for a clash of heads involving two Manor players. Again after some lengthy treatment, Manors Jamie Hulse came off with a nasty head wound that saw him going to hospital and Kirk Chettleburgh came off to have treatment again for a head wound before re-joining the fray. Brad Burrell replaced Hulse and Ollie Waugh returning from a 6 week injury lay off came on for Chettleburgh.

The game restarted with a scrum which Manor got the nudge on and won a penalty allowing them to clear their line to temporarily relieve the pressure.

Amersham continued to apply pressure and although Manors defence held up well the pressure eventually told when after a series of good driving runs by the visitors forwards, the ball was passed back to Amersham’s flyhalf who sent a long pass out to his right winger who was unmarked out wide, he then had the pace to beat the covering defenders to go in at the corner to score a well deserved try. The touchline conversion was well taken and after 20 minutes Amersham led 0 – 7.

Manor hit back almost immediately when the kick off was chased by Aaron Lowe, he caught the catcher as he tried to run the ball forward and in doing so caused the Amersham player to knock the ball on. Manor won the resulting scrum before releasing the ball to their backline. Centre Ben Bolton – Smith crashed through the first tackle but was then taken out high by one of the Amersham forwards, this resulted in him receiving a cut to the head which need him to leave the field for treatment, the Amersham player was sent to the sin bin and Bolton-Smith was replaced by Manor debutant Jack Casey-Potter. From the awarded penalty Cameron Dutch stepped up and scored Manors first points with a kick at goal. After 25 minutes Manor had their first points on the board, 3 – 7.

The score seemed to wake Manor up as they upped their work rate and it was their turn to pressurise their opponents inside their half. Although the play had become scrappy from both sides Manor were looking the side more likely to score again, that was until a couple of silly penalties and a yellow card for Parry Sheehy for dissent gave Amersham the opportunity of points from a long range penalty, but the attempt was missed.

As the half drew to a close Manor were finishing the stronger of the two sides. From a long kick by Amersham Lowe gathered the ball and made 30 meters before linking up with Carley Buisson who took the ball powerfully on breaking through a couple of tackles before the forwards took on the attack but couldn’t press home their advantage and when the ball was held up they handed possession back to Amersham through a scrum.

Manor continued to apply pressure and this eventually told, winger Jamie Millais made ground before Dutch went through a couple of tackles and made 30 meters before letting his forwards continue the attack through George Cosma, he was taken to ground but with the ball quickly recycled Chettleburgh went down the blindside, handed off the first tackler and raced into Amersham’s 22, here he drew the last defender before passing to the supporting Jimmy Baber who raced over the line for Manors first try of the match. Dutch was successful with the conversion and with just enough time to take the restart Manor went into the break leading 10 – 7.

Manor kicked off the second half and were immediately on the offensive, another good break by Dutch saw him make 30 meters before linking up with Waugh, he made ground before feeding Chettleburgh who broke through Amersham’s defence but was felled by a last ditch tap tackle, Manor quickly recycled the ball to Bolton-Smith who powered towards the line and with players outside him he cut back inside and looked to have made it to the line but a thunderous tackle stopped him in his tracks and a potential score had been missed.

Manor continued to enjoy possession and territory with some powerful running from Frankie Sullivan, Waugh and Sheehy allowing Craig Ratford to dart through a gap in Amersham’s defence, he then linked up with winger Lowe who jinxed his way past a couple of defenders as he raced towards the line, as he reached the last defender he popped a pass to Nick Horton allowing him to go over the line and behind the posts for a seven point score increasing Manors lead after 7 minutes of the second half to 17 – 7.

From the restart Sheehy gathered the ball and made good ground before his fellow forwards took the ball up field, when the ball went to ground Ratford sent a massive clearance kick deep into Amersham’s half causing the defence to turn and chase back. Millais was thundering down the touch line giving chase and when the Amersham defender fumbled the ball inside his own 22, Millais pounced on the mistake and gathered the loose ball, he looked round for his support and it came in the unlikely shape of prop Brad Burrell who gratefully accepted the ball from Millais and raced over the line for Manors third try. With Dutch adding the conversion, in the space of 5 minutes Manor had pulled away from Amersham stretching their lead to 24 – 7.

Manor continued to control the game with Dutch, Chettleburgh and Lowe prominent in attack but some handling errors by Manor meant that promising attacks came to nothing.

Amersham hadn’t given up the contest and a good break by their flyhalf was only stopped by Waugh covering back and tackling the player into touch inside Manors 22. Both sides now had attacking plays with Amersham having the best opportunity when their flyhalf made another good break making 25 meters into Manors 22, he had support with him but chose to go for glory and take on Manors fullback Dutch, but Dutch was more than up to the task and flattened the Amersham player with a textbook tackle and in the process winning a scrum for a knock on. Unfortunately this lead to Manor giving away a very soft try from the scum, with the ball secured it was passed out to the backline but the ball was dropped and then took a bad bounce on the surface popping up into the hands of an Amersham player who strolled over the line unopposed for a seven point score, 27 – 14 with 10 minutes left to play.

Manor now went in search of their bonus point try and after a period of pressure inside Amersham’s 22, the visitors won the ball back and went to box kick it away, but Waugh managed to charge it down and it went into touch 10 meters from Amersham’s line. Sheehy rose highest at the line and stole the throw in, the ball was moved out to the backline for Ratford to attack but he was stopped by a high tackle. Manor opted for a scrum from which Sheehy, Waugh and Chettleburgh all drove towards the line before Sullivan did cross the line but was held up. From the resulting scrum Waugh drove off the back and despite the best efforts of a couple of defenders he got over the line and scored Manors fourth try. Dutch continued with his flawless kicking and added the extra points giving Manor a comfortable lead 31 – 14.

Both sides had further scoring opportunities, Amersham from a scrum inside their half broke down the blind side and only another excellent covering tackle by Dutch prevented a possible score.
As for Manor it was Dutch again who made the initial break, stepping past a number of defenders taking play close to Amersham’s line before feeding the unmarked Callum Craig but as he set off towards the line the ref brought play back for a forward pass.
Amersham again hit back at Manor and made another good break down the wing but the covering Horton talked the man 15 meters from Manors line and won a scrum for a knock on. Manor secured the put in which allowed Sheehy to break off the back and go blind, he sliced through Amersham’s defence and took play from his 22 into Amersham’s half. Here with defenders converging on him, he put boot to ball and kicked deep into Amersham’s 22. Dutch was leading the chase but the kick had just too much weight on it and went agonisingly over the dead ball line before Dutch could reach it and so ending the match.

Eton Manor DOR Mark Farrell was upbeat after the game and said ‘Amersham came at us hard from the start and it took us a while to get a foothold in the game. The gain line battle within this period was fiercely contested, but once we did seize control, we were able to play our game pattens and scored four very well executed tries. Although it must be said that by the end of the game it was felt a few more scores were left begging.
There’s still plenty to work on, this side has been unbalanced recently with the volume of injuries it has had, but some of these players are returning and the competition for places is hotting up.
Training will undoubtably ramp up another notch this week as we quickly turn our attention to our next fixture, Southend RFC away, where we take both our First & Second XV’s.’